With the downtown Long Beach coastline in the background and hip-hop royalty on the lineup, there’s going to be no party like this West Coast party.

Snoop Dogg is leading the way and he has some of hip-hop’s finest behind him, plus a few young up-and-comers as well as soul and R&B legends for Once Upon a Time in the LBC, a sold-out music festival that returns to where the roots of West Coast hip-hop flourished for a July 27 and 28 weekend show.

“It’s gonna be a great day in the LBC. There’s such a combination of different artists in that lineup, it’s a great epic lineup,” said Los Angeles-based rapper and singer Baby Bash, who is among the more than 30 acts taking part in the festival at the Queen Mary Events Park.

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The lineup includes headliner Snoop Dogg, plus YG and The Game, Warren G, DMX, Bones Thugs-n-Harmony as well as rising stars such as RJ and Blueface. Also on the bill are Keith Sweat, Too Short, Ginuwine, Lil Rob and the Mary Jane Girls.

Los Angeles-based rapper Baby Bash is among the more than 30 performers taking the stage at Once Upon a Time in the LBC concert in Long Beach happening July 27-28. Here he performs at the Michelada Rumble. (Photo courtesy of Michelada Rumble).

Sounds of a culture

Veteran artists such as Bash think this festival, with its mix of hip-hop acts boasting undeniable street cred plus lots of feel-good music performed during a summer weekend by the ocean, perfectly exemplifies West Coast hip-hop culture.

“These are not fly-by-night artists,” he said. “It’s a culture of music.

“It’s that environment of the cruising lowrider, drop the top convertible and beautiful people hanging out,” Bash added.

And yeah, Bash promised that the beautiful people at the show will get to hear his 2003 hit “Suga Suga.”

“Of course when I do ‘Suga Suga’ that’s gonna kill it at the end,” he said.

Produced by Goldenvoice in partnership with Uncle Snoop’s Army powered by Bobby Dee Presents (a new entertainment company made up of Snoop and veteran music promoter Bobby Dee) Once Upon a Time in the LBC was one of the hottest tickets in town.

Day one of the show went on sale March 15 and sold out within an hour. A second day was announced on March 20 at the 15,000-person capacity venue and that quickly sold out, too.

East meets West

Although this is a party headlined by West Coast acts, East Coast artists will be in the house too, including the melodic Cleveland rap crew Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, which will take the stage to play in the backyard of mentor Eazy-E, who signed the group to his Ruthless Records label in late 1993.

“We love what we do … We represent Eazy-E, (our) second home, L.A.,” said group member Layzie Bone.

“We’re going to have a ball, man,” he added.

Tributes

But while they’ll be having a ball, like others at the show, members of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony will also have the late Nipsey Hussle on their minds.

The L.A. rapper was slated to be one of the headliners at the festival but he died in March after he was gunned down outside his Crenshaw district clothing store.

Layzie Bone said he and his band mates plan on performing “Tha Crossroads,” a song originally dedicated to their late mentor Eazy-E, in honor of Hussle.

Bone Thugs-n-Harmony will also be dropping a new single soon called “Survival,” but there’s no word on whether they’ll be performing it in Long Beach or if a new album will follow.

Hussle was also on the mind of RJ, one of the city’s hottest emerging rappers who’s on the lineup for the show.

“I feel like there’s going to be a void that we’re going to have to fill because his presence was just so monstrous,” he said. “His presence is so big I don’t know how we’re even going to fill that void.”

RJ will be releasing a new album called “On God,” this summer and he just dropped a single with Young Thug called “Time,” so he’s looking forward to performing some of the new material in Long Beach.

The rapper is also excited about being on a lineup with some of his musical heroes.

“It’s an honor rocking with them, on the same stage with some of the greats,” he said.

“I blend a lot of my music with old school music so I’m like a blast-from-the-past-type artist and new school artist, so it all fits and it all works out,” he added.

And just like Baby Bash, RJ thinks this show was a hot ticket because it captures the culture of hip-hop.

“Everything about hip-hop and what it means and what it stands for, even the rebelliousness, the fans love it. And they have this opportunity to watch these favorite artist of all time that they love at one show, in one whole gumbo pot,” RJ said.

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